Greenock Glenpark Harriers are a running and triathlon club based in Inverclyde on the west coast of Scotland. We cater for all abilities of athlete and warmly welcome new members from ages 9 to 90. Check the ‘Contact Us’ page for more info

Bill Elder 10k 2018

The 2018 Greenock Glenpark Harriers season came to a close on Tuesday night with the Bill Elder 10k road race. The turnout for the seniors race was excellent with 52 senior runners starting the race, a good increase on last year. The conditions were ideal, with very little breeze on a mild night. The rout takes the runner out from the Battery Park, along the esplanade and further east to the old Custom House. Runners are looped around the clock and retrace their steps back to the finish line in the Battery Park.

Club Champion Chris Mooney set off chasing the lead bike and set a rapid early pace that saw him break away from the crowd early on. Impressively, Chris maintained this pace all the way to the finish and recorded a PB of 33.21 to bag his 7th club race victory of the season. It was almost enough to bag him the Handicap championship too. Andrew White led the way going into the final race, with only a 2 point cushion over Chris, Robert Dolan and John Stevenson. With the latter 2 unable to attend, Chris looked like Andy’s biggest threat. Once the sums were done, Chris was 30 seconds ahead of Andy on the night and leapfrogged him in the standings. However, out of the chasing pack there was to be a twist in the tale…

Duncan Anderson ran his first 10k PB since 2014 with a great time of 39.35. This was good enough for 3rd in the handicaps on the night and sent him to the top of the handicap standings to take the overall title by 2 points. Duncan has been knocking on the door in the handicap races in the last few months and has continued to improve as the season wore on, a well deserved winner. The handicap winner on the night was Sandra Campbell. Sandra has been in the club for the majority of this season and has shown good form leading up to this race, and she took the handicap race on the night by 30 seconds from Grace Campbell. Grace took 2 minutes off of her time from last year’s race.

Ladies Champion Marian Monk took home her 7th club race win of the season in 45.16. Marian has shown incredible consistency this season and this win tops it off. One of the most notable runs in the ladies race was from brand new member Lauren Reid. Having joined the club this week, Lauren ran a superb 45.48 to finish in 2nd position. With fellow youngster Nicola Stevenson in 3rd spot on 46.16 (a great PB for Nicola), the young ladies are right on Marian’s heels going into next season and hopefully for the upcoming cross country season!

Another runner who has been improving throughout the season is Claire Monaghan. Claire ran an incredible 1min 35sec PB on the night! Another notable PB was for Steven Smith. Steven has struggled with injuries this year, and has been slowly recovering over the summer months. His patience was well rewarded with his PB time of 43.44, having not raced in at least 6 months. Well done guys!

Other notable good runs came from Daniel Doherty who looks like he is close to being back to his best with a time of 35.38, only 17secs shy of a PB. Shaun Marshall pushed his way close to the top 5 with a run of 37.25. Steven Watson dipped under 40 mins as he continues his return from injury. There were also strong runs from Richard Davidson, Ross Neilson and Mick McLoone.

The age category championships were also concluded on Tuesday night. Andrew White capped off an excellent season by taking home the v40 title. Danny McLaughlin won the v50 while Graham McGrattan won the v60 and Eddie Devine the v70. On the ladies side, there was further success for Marian Monk in winning the v35 and v45 titles whilst Lorna Coyle won the v55. Well done everyone!